The Walker With Heart

Well, I've withdrawn from the Fellsman - that glorious 60 miles of insanity that has driven me to some insane things the last couple of years.  I just know that given how crap my training for a half marathon has been, picking it up and adding in hills by the end of April just won't be enough to make me feel comfortable in pushing the envelope that far... This is one of those times where I will not regret not doing something, partly because I know the pain I could cause myself, and more importantly taking on that course in less than 100% confidence that I can give it a good go is a risk not just to me but to the excellent (and volunteer) organisers and safety teams.  I never want to be the muppet who gets into trouble due to bravado and arrogance and ends up drawing a team off from someone who needs more help. So, the dynamic duo of me and my walking mate will not be doing the hard work that weekend, but the thoughts are turning to training, some proper ...

It's the beginning of Heart Week, and it is glorious for those of us in this game for a long time to see the scars and the red tops and the t-shirt with "I survived heart surgery" on them.  So thank you, you've made an old cranky GUCH smile! As ever there's been Facebook spats on the appropriateness of some of it, some preferring the good news story variant of life to the reality of a mix of great highs and lows. I can understand the former, but relate more to the latter - if life as a GUCH, or a kid with a dickey ticker, or the family of any of us with congenital heart defects was a good news story then none of us would put the time and effort in that we do to make the world a better place, not just for ourselves and our kids, but for all of them. So, what am I doing?  I'm doing the stuff that often doesn't get seen in the see of scars and the red assault on the eyeballs of the nation - I'm talking quietly and with purpose, the quietness is becaus...